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FOUNDATIONS OF TIBETAN BUDDHISM

by H.E. Kalu Rinpoche 200 pp., 8 illustrations, 3 drawings & 5 photos, 6 x 9", fourth edition. #FOTIB2     $15.95 Order Now! A marvelously clear and accessible presentation of this Buddhist tradition's fundamental training, with special emphasis on the important preliminary practices. The late Kalu Rinpoche was born in 1905 in eastern Tibet. In 1971, H.H. the Sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa sent him on a teaching journey to the West. Rinpoche subsequently founded numerous Buddhist centers in Europe and North America. By the time of his passing in 1989, Western students had claimed him as one of their most popular and influential teachers. The centers Rinpoche founded and the teachers and translators he trained continue his legacy in the West today. Some of the most authentic and authoritative Tibetan Buddhist texts now being published can be traced to Kalu Rinpoche's students, such as those of the Tsadra Foundation series published by Snow Lion.

Below is an excerpt from the text.

Ngöndro: Refuge and Prostrations

We have explored the ordinary or common preliminaries, the four thoughts which turn the mind away from involvement in samsara and toward the practice of dharma. The special or particular preliminaries of the Ngöndro practice begin with refuge. Taking refuge is linked with the practice of prostrations, which is the physical element of the physical, verbal and mental aspects involved in taking refuge. The reason we need to take refuge or practice prostrations is because our particular situation is one of helplessness.

Tathagatagarbha, the potential for enlightenment which is the nature of mind itself, is something which is inherent in our being. However, we lack direct experience of it, and therefore a number of levels of confusion and obscuration have set in; we are more or less in the situation of infants, dependent upon our mothers and unable to do anything for ourselves. We have no real control or power over ourselves. Given that we are in this helpless or powerless state, we lack the ability to provide our own refuge, to lead ourselves along the path of enlightenment. The mind itself has lost power to its own projections, to the karmic tendencies that are part of mind, to the thoughts and emotions which continually arise in and disturb the mind. Therefore, we are not able to provide ourselves with an adequate source of refuge, or an adequate source of guidance for spiritual development.

In order for us to traverse the path to enlightenment, we need some help; we need to look somewhere outside of our own limited situation for something that can provide that source of refuge. This is the reason, first and foremost, for taking refuge in the Buddha. The attainment of Buddhahood implies the removal of all levels of obscuration and confusion in the mind, and the unfolding of all the incredible potential which is the nature of mind itself. At that point, there is complete control, complete freedom, complete power and capability. Therefore, the Buddha, as one who attained omniscience, provides us with a source of refuge and with the guidance for our own spiritual practice.

Taking refuge in the Dharma, the teachings which were presented by the Buddha to enlighten other beings, provides us with a source of guidance and refuge. Taking refuge in the Sangha, those beings who attain high states of realization such as the ten bodhisattva levels and who realize and transmit the dharma, provides us with an additional source of guidance and refuge. We call these sources of refuge the Three Jewels. Through our own efforts in seeking refuge, and through the blessings which are inherent in the sources of refuge, the connection is made whereby we can make effective progress along the path to enlightenment.

Part of the very compassionate and skillful activity of the Buddha was the tantric teachings called the Vajrayana. These teachings were presented to provide beings with the means to traverse the path to enlightenment effectively and attain that goal very swiftly. A practitioner to whom these teachings are accessible, and who is a fit vessel for these teachings, meditates upon yidams, which are manifestations of enlightenment, manifestations of Buddha in both peaceful and wrathful forms. The yidams, or divinities, are associated with certain mantras and visualizations which are used to effect transformation very rapidly. Theoretically, it is entirely possible to attain complete enlightenment in a single lifetime, through the practice of the Vajrayana. Because this accomplishment stems from meditation upon and identification with the yidams, we speak of the yidams as the source or root of accomplishment, and this is the first source of refuge in Vajrayana practice.

The second crucial element of Vajrayana practice is the blessing and inspiration that we receive from our spiritual teacher. The particular function of the guru is to provide us with a link to the living transmission of blessing and experience which has come down in an unbroken lineage. This lineage derives from the Dharmakaya level, the absolute or formless enlightened experience, which is iconographically represented as Vajradhara Buddha. In the case of our Kagyu tradition, one lineage begins with the Dharmakaya level and passes through a human succession of teachers such as Tilopa and Naropa in India. Another lineage begins with the Dharmakaya level and passes through the wisdom dakini Niguma, or through the wisdom dakini Sukhasiddhi. Each of these lineages is a living transmission of teaching and experience from one generation to the next; each lineage is unbroken, composed of gurus down to the present day, and includes our own root guru who is the principal source of blessing for our tantric practice. Therefore, in the Vajrayana, the second source of refuge is the guru.

It is quite truly said in the Vajrayana tradition that the deeper the dharma, the deeper the negativity that we encounter in our practice. In a powerful and intensive practice, there can be very strong obstacles from within and without. In the Vajrayana tradition, there are particular forms which we can supplicate, known as dakinis, dharma protectors, and guardians of the teachings. These are emanations of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas usually in wrathful form. Their principal function is to allow the practitioner to overcome obstacles and hindrances which are encountered in the practice. These forms are described as the root of enlightened activity. In the Vajrayana, we speak of both the Three Jewels and the Three Roots of refuge, the guru (or gurus) as the root of blessing; the yidams or meditational divinities as the root of accomplishment; and the dakinis and dharma protectors as the root of enlightened activity.

Because we are concerned with practice of the Buddhadharma on the sutra and tantra levels, all of these sources of refuge constitute valid objects of our faith and devotion. The benefits of taking refuge are that the practitioner opens himself or herself to the blessings of the sources of refuge. Our minds turn toward the dharma more and more; we become involved with the practice of dharma so that it becomes our path and our way of life. These blessings clear away obstacles to the supreme accomplishment of complete enlightenment. Taking refuge is fundamental to our practice of dharma, both in starting on the path and in following it through to completion.